Ollie Watkins’ second-half header gave Aston Villa a 1-0 win over Lille in the first leg of their Europa League round-of-16 tie on Thursday.
Just past the hour mark, Ezri Konsa sent a deep pass that Emi Buendía headed to Watkins in the home team’s box. The England forward noticed goalkeeper Berke Özer was off his line before sending a looping header over him and into the net.
Minutes later, Watkins wasted a chance to double the advantage when he failed to score in a one-on-one with the ‘keeper.
Nottingham Forest was stunned 1-0 by Danish club Midtjylland.
Brazil forward Endrick scored late to salvage a 1-1 draw for Lyon at 10-man Celta Vigo. Celta led on a first-half goal by Javi Rueda before striker Borja Iglesias received the second yellow 10 minutes into the second half.
In an all-Italian derby, Bologna and Roma drew 1-1 in the first leg.
Porto took home a 2-1 advantage from Stuttgart. Terem Moffi and Rodrigo Mora scored six minutes apart in the first half for Porto before Deniz Undav netted for Stuttgart before the interval.
Another Bundesliga team, Freiburg, needs to overturn a 1-0 defeat to Genk in Belgium.
In Athens, Vicente Taborda converted from the spot two minutes from time as Panathinaikos overcame Real Betis 1-0 in a game where both sides were reduced to 10.
Ferencváros beat Braga 2-0 in Budapest.
Forest loses
Substitute Guesung Cho headed in an 80th minute winner in Nottingham.
Forest pressed throughout but failed to find the back of the net amid heavy rain at the City Ground and will face a tough job in Denmark in the second leg with a crucial match against Fulham in the Premier League awaiting on Sunday.
Nottingham also lost to Midtjylland at home in the opening phase in October.
Victory for England
Villa became the first English team this week to win its first-leg game in European competitions.
None of England’s six clubs in the knockouts of the Champions League won, with Manchester City, Chelsea, Tottenham and Liverpool losing. Only Arsenal and Newcastle picked up draws.
In the third-tier Conference League, Crystal Palace was held 0-0 in London by AEK Larnaca.
Villa was also boosted by the return from injury of captain John McGinn, who came on as substitute in the 77th minute. He had missed seven weeks with a knee injury.
All square in Italy
Federico Bernardeschi scored for host Bologna early in the second half to take a 1-0 lead against Roma. Substitute Lorenzo Pellegrini equalized just five minutes after he came off the bench.
The tie is still wide open, though Roma will take more experience into next week’s second leg. Roma was runner-up twice, including in 2023, in this competition and coach Gian Piero Gasperini won the Europa League two years ago with Atalanta.
The Europa League format that launched last year lets teams from the same country meet at any point in the knockout phase. Previously, national derbies were possible only from the quarterfinals.
Fiorentina wins in Conference League
Two-time runner-up Fiorentina needed a stoppage-time penalty to beat Polish club Rakow 2-1. AEK Athens is in sight of the quarterfinals after a 4-0 win at Celje.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
